Murder Victim Lays Dead In Lawn For 6 Hours Before Coroner Picks Him Up

Devoe Tyreke Conley (pictured above) was shot dead in his front lawn in Detroit Sunday evening after exchanging words with men who drove up in a van, Fox 2 News Detroit reports.

The cops came immediately. The EMS came soon after. They checked Conley’s pulse, declared him dead and left. It would take six hours for the Wayne County Medical Examiner to pick up his body. Conley’s family says the 22-year-old was killed around 6 p.m., but his body didn’t get to the morgue until 11 p.m.

The victim’s cousin, who did not want to be identified, said it took forever for the coroner to arrive. “The sun was up,” the cousin said. “When they came and got him the sun was down The sun had already set on the other side of the planet. And he still out here laying.”

The Wayne County Medical Examiner’s Office told Fox 2 that it only has one coroner that covers all of Wayne County on the weekends. The office did not learn about Conley’s body until 8 p.m., a representative told Fox 2. The Detroit Police Department told Fox 2 that whenever a victim is declared dead, it’s up to the Medical Examiner’s Office to determine when to pick up the body. Three hours after the ME learned of Conley’s death, his body made it to the morgue.

A rep from the coroner’s office said that Sunday night was very busy. Twelve other bodies had to be picked up besides Conley’s.

But Stacey Conley, the victim’s uncle (pictured to the left of the photo), believes he knows why it took so long for his nephew’s body to be recovered. “Because we’re Black,” he said. “But if we were in a White area, I believe they would have been there immediately. But my nephew shouldn’t been left there on that ground that long.”